I Need a Miracle to See Me Through
by osnapitzs
Summary: "In honour of the second Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be chosen at the Reaping." *NOTE- I accidentally called it the third quarter quell because I was watching Catching Fire, my mistake, it's obviously the second.*


_I found this on my computer. I'm not really sure how I feel about it, but isn't life about making decisions you might regret later?_

* * *

**Rated T for times when I used mildly inappropriate words and the obvious character death. **

* * *

_**I Need a Miracle to See Me Through**_

"_In honour of the third Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be chosen at the Reaping."_

Maysilee Donner clutched her best friend Lillian's hand and her twin Caroline's as they stared at each other in shock. Twice as many tributes. That meant that two girls and two boys from District 12 were most likely going to die. Realistically she knew that her name was only entered five times. There were girls that grew up on the Seam who had their name in more than twenty times. She was the first out of the three of them to pull her together. Maysilee had always been the toughest out of the three of them, the most likely to stand up to people. She knew that out of the girls that lived in the merchant's section of District 12, she was the most likely to survive the Games if she was chosen.

* * *

Reaping Day had arrived. Maysilee, Caroline and Lillian stood in their very best, clutching each other in a close huddle. They stood with the other sixteen year old girls from District 12, all nervously awaiting the names. The escort for their district was an obnoxiously peppy woman named Piper with huge red curls. She was always so excited about the games and everyone despised her. No one had bothered to remember her last name.

"Isn't this exciting! Twice as exciting in fact!" She chirped into the microphone. "Let's start off with the ladies, why don't we?"

Prancing over to the ball, she reached inside and grasped at thin air for a moment before grabbing a paper. Unfolding it, her bright yellow eyes, like a cat's, scanned the paper. She called out the name before Maysilee could even pray that it wasn't going to be one of them.

"Kaycee Quinn!"

It was a vaguely familiar girl from the Seam who made her way up to the stage. The crowd was silent, and everyone could see the poor girl was shaking. She was fourteen years old and much too mature looking for anyone to even remotely consider replacing her. Piper smiled brightly.

"And now for the second girl!"

_Not me, please not me, don't be me, or Caroline or Lillian please God please- _"Maysilee Donner!"

Maysilee's bowed head shot upright and Lillian and Caroline fell on her, clinging to her shoulders and tearing up. Maysilee gently shook them off.

"You have to let go, I have to go on stage," she whispered.

She was determined not to cry as she climbed the wooden steps. She distantly heard noises and the hollow creaking sounds the stairs made as she climbed them registered more loudly than anything else. Her mother was crying into her father's shoulder. She shook hands with Kaycee. Both their hands were practically vibrating out of fear.

"Kaycee and Maysilee! They even rhyme!" Piper practically squealed.

Maysilee barely noticed the boys being called –Haymitch Abernathy and Russet Eden. She didn't remember shaking hands with either of them either, but she must have.

The goodbyes passed in a blur of tears, and a fair amount of snot. Her mother and Caroline were hysterical; her twin already had a dead look in her eye, like she was watching Maysilee die before it happened. Her father was stoic as ever, he hugged her and pet her hair. The Peacekeepers didn't allow Lillian into the room to say goodbye. She wasn't family and they were "rushed" with twice as many tributes. Maysilee was dragged away after making Caroline promise to tell her best friend that she loved her.

* * *

Her ride to the Capitol, and even most of her stay at the most luxurious place she would ever see, passed in a blur of training and learning how best to survive. She did remember Haymitch Abernathy and especially his interview. He was cocky, and she was impressed with his toughness. She even laughed when he called the other tributes stupid. It was a choked sound, like she had forgotten how to laugh, but it was a laugh nonetheless.

When she was called onto the stage to sit with the new host that year, Cesar Flickerman, her palms were sweaty and her hands were shaking. She knew she didn't look like much to the Capitol. She didn't have the same kind of fire that Haymitch had, and coming from District 12, she would be forgotten about quickly.

"Don't you look lovely tonight?" Cesar smiled at her brightly.

"Probably for the first and last time," she managed with a half-smile.

"Now, now, that's not the mind of a winner!" He chided.

Maysilee slipped into a character, someone other than herself for the short interview. "I didn't say it was because I would die Cesar, District 12 is full of mines, and it's difficult to stay clean!"

Her half-assed joke made the crowd titter. He asked her other questions, mostly inconsequential, until he asked her what she had to say to her family before going into the arena.

"All I have to say is that if I die in the arena, they had better not stop showering."

She had already said her real goodbyes; anything else would make her cry. Cesar roared with laughter and she exited the stage to the crowd cheering. She kicked off her ridiculous shoes the second she was away from cameras. When she looked up again she was met directly by the bright grey eyes of Haymitch Abernathy. His curly dark hair had escaped the slicked-back look from his interview and fell around his face again.

Maysilee almost jumped in surprise and straightened up fully. "Haymitch," she greeted him coolly.

He had been nothing but rude to her every time she spoke to him while they'd been in the Capitol.

"Donner. Nice interview," he was smirking.

She narrowed her blue eyes at him. "Go to hell."

She brushed past him down the hallway, assuming that would be the last time they ever spoke.

* * *

_Fate has a funny way of surprising you._ Maysilee thought to herself. She was holding her blowgun out in front of her, waiting to see if she would have to help Haymitch –he was fighting a few of the other tributes, but he seemed to be winning. Until he got pinned down with a knife at his throat. If he hadn't been from District 12, Maysilee wouldn't have bothered helping him. Maybe she shouldn't he might just turn around and kill her, but she knew her family would never forgive her for not trying to help, and she knew they would hear about this if they didn't see it. So she fired, hitting he boy from District 6 right at the base of his neck. He splattered Haymitch with blood. Haymitch threw the twitching boy off of him and grabbed his knife. Then he looked up, ready to fight, shocked to find Maysilee standing there, from where she had moved into the open.

"We'd last longer with the two of us." She wasn't sure what prompted her to say anything to him, so she busied herself with looking through the now-dead group's supplies.

"Well I guess you just proved that," Haymitch reluctantly agreed.

She hesitantly held out her hand for him to shake, grimacing when he got blood on it after shaking. He raised an eyebrow.

"Problem princess?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, grabbing a bag off one of the dead boys. "I'm rummaging through a corpse's supplies. I think I can handle a little blood, asshole."

He shrugged. "Let's get out of here."

They both had conveniently forgotten to bring up the cannons that had gone of a few minutes ago and simply moved on. Haymitch powered on ahead, moving into the forest. Maysilee rolled her eyes.

"What a great partnership this is starting out as," she muttered to herself.

* * *

Haymitch didn't speak to her as they hiked for most of the day. When it started to get dark, Maysilee put her foot down.

"We're stopping for the night Haymitch."

"We can't stop, we have to keep moving."

"So when are you planning to sleep genius?" She snapped.

He was clearly rolling his eyes when he turned back around. "Can you climb?" He asked jerking his head towards one of the trees in defeat.

"Of course," she scoffed.

"Good, pick a tree."

She slowly pivoted in a circle looking for the ideal tree. One without flowers –they poisoned you if you got too close for a length of time –one that was tall but leafy. When she found the perfect tree, she started to nimbly climb. Looking back down from several feet above, she found Haymitch staring up at her, looking impressed at her choice.

"Come on Abernathy, we haven't got all night. The Careers go hunting at night."

They found out, when they were both in a tree, that most of the Careers weren't a problem anymore. Several of their pictures appeared in the sky that night. Maysilee, with night vision binoculars she'd found in one of the bags, scanned the area from high up in the tree where she had a nice view.

"Hey, you know that mountain?" She called down to Haymitch.

He nodded once, looking up at her.

"It's not a mountain. It's a volcano."

"That explains the deaths," he muttered.

She climbed back down to a few branches above him. "There's 10 of us left. I did the math."

"Good for you," he didn't sound mocking, just tired.

She shrugged. "I didn't have to work as hard as you at home, I had time for homework." She wasn't mocking him either.

"Yeah, running a candy shop is a sweet life isn't it?" He smirked at her.

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. "Nice one, Abernathy." She dropped down her fist so he could pound it. "We may not kill each other after all."

He chuckled, reaching up to oblige in bumping her fist.

* * *

"Haymitch, let's take a break."

They were down to the final five tributes. Maysilee and Haymitch had become something of reluctant friends. They'd been together for six days. She was sure the Gamemakers were getting anxious, the tributes were dying off too slowly for their liking she was sure.

"We can't take a break."

"Haymitch. Where the hell are we going?" She demanded.

"The arena has to end somewhere right?"

"I guess… so?"

"So, I'm going to find it."

She shrugged. "If you insist. There won't be anything there."

She followed him anyways, perhaps against her better judgement. They trekked on through the forest until they reached the end. They had even made it through an empty field without being ambushed. It was further proof that there weren't very many of them left. Haymitch seemed to be ignoring the scenery, so Maysilee fell a couple paces behind as she took it all in. It was another full day until they reached the end of the arena. It fell into a deep canyon. Haymitch stopped a few feet from the edge. She briefly entertained the thought of pushing him in, but knew she would never kill this boy. He was the closest thing to family she'd ever see again. She did know that if it came down to it, he would kill her. She would let him. Haymitch deserved to win the Games.

"That's all there is Haymitch. Let's start going back." She was speaking before she even really noticed that she was speaking.

He shrugged one shoulder. "I'm going to stay here I think. Let them come to me."

She sighed, and readjusted her backpack. "Fine. I'm going to go. There's only five left, it would literally kill me if it came down to the two of us."

He smiled a genuine smile at her attempt to joke. "Nice working with you."

"You too. Good luck Haymitch." She walked away, leaving him there.

* * *

"_**HAYMITCH!**__" _She screeched before another one of those fucking pink birds got her in the stomach and she doubled over to the ground, screaming, no words, just screams.

The birds remained for another agonizing eternity of a moment before they flew off; clearly they were done with her. And they'd done enough. She was just barely coherent enough to understand that she was dying. She was surprised when she was alive a few moments later and Haymitch came up to her, pounding into the ground with hard steps. Maysilee was surprised to see him there actually; he had been under no obligation to help her, they weren't allies anymore. It made her heart hurt in a completely different way than it already was to see him looking so upset. He was clearly put out that he couldn't do anything to help her. All the same, he sat down next to her and grabbed her hand, pushing her hair back away from where it was getting tangled and caught in her gasping breaths.

"You really have to win now," she wheezed.

"You really shouldn't be talking," he murmured to her.

"Haymitch, do me a favour," he met her eyes, "shut the fuck up and get back home. No matter what."

"No matter what," he echoed. "It really was nice working with you, Donner."

"You too Ab-" her last breath was punched out of her in a gasp that just _maybe_ had the end to his name, and her eyes glassed over.

The canon went off. Maysilee Donner was dead, and Haymitch Abernathy had a Hunger Games to win for her.


End file.
